News Flash - 17
November 2006

The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO)
publishes report on Moldova

The Council of Europeís Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) has
published today its
Second Round Evaluation Report on Moldova. The
report has been made public with the agreement of the Moldovan authorities.

GRECOís Second Evaluation Round focuses on measures taken to deprive
criminals of the benefits of their corrupt acts, to counter corruption in
public administration and to prevent companies being used to shield
corruption.

Numerous commendable efforts have already been made in Moldova, in
particular to make the administration more efficient and transparent.
However much remains to be done. GRECO therefore addresses 15
recommendations and several observations to the Moldovan authorities to
further improve existing anti-corruption policies and laws. GRECO stresses,
amongst others, that the implementation of the Moldovan strategy for
administrative reform should be a matter of priority. Other recommendations
deal with improving citizens' access to information, situations in which
public officials' private interests conflict with their professional
interests and rules requiring persons employed in the public sector to
report instances of corruption and to provide for adequate protection of
those who do so. GRECO furthermore calls upon Moldova to take the links
between organised crime, corruption and money laundering into account and to
revise and harmonise criminal legislation to enable adequate confiscation of
the profits of corruption. Finally, in the area of company legislation,
GRECO stresses the need to introduce provisions which would make it possible
to hold companies liable for corruption offences and to provide for
appropriate sanctions in such cases; further measures also need to be taken
to ensure that bribes are not tax-deductible in practice.

Measures taken by Moldova to implement
GRECO's recommendations will be assessed by GRECO in the context of a
specific compliance procedure in the second half of 2008.